Chief
by sky-lee
Summary: A night of drinking with Team Avatar doesn't end how they thought.


A/N: Hi, so I forgot my password for 9 years but I am BACK babeeeey with a spicy little Tokka oneshot. This mildly reads as a HIMYM episode and I'm honestly, not that mad about it. The Gaang is older, I'm thinking around 8/9 years post war. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar.

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"I just want everyone to know that it's decided- I'm ready to get hurt again," Sokka says, slamming his pint glass on the crusty tabletop.

Katara heaves a sigh and rubs her eyes, already exhausted by whatever mess she'll inevitably have to detangle later. "Oh brother."

"Please no," Aang mumbles. "Not again."

"No, you're not," Zuko replies flatly.

Toph perks up at this proclamation. "You don't say?" she questions, a smirk slowly creeping across her face.

"Yup!" Sokka says to her, popping the "p" for effect. He decides to ignore the general grumblings from his other companions. "Toph, why is it that whenever I have life altering decisions, you're the only one who supports me?"

The smirk evolves into a full out grin.

"I don't know, Captain Boomerang. It seems that I'm the only optimist around here nowadays."

"Oh, you're something," Zuko says, voice dripping with implication. "I've found that your particular brand of optimism is usually at one of our expenses. Especially Sokka's."

Toph places her hand not wrapped around a glass of ale over her heart and opens her mouth into a small "o" of shock. "Sparky! How could you say something like that!" she feigns. She knows exactly what type of game she's playing. And she intends to see this through to the end.

"Sokka is my very best friend in the whole wide world! I want nothing more than to see him happy!"

"Well," Aang hiccups around a sip of ale, "technically, you can't ever see him happy."

Toph's face falters slightly at this remark. "Hey, leave the blind girl one liners to the blind girl."

Blind woman, Sokka amends to himself. I don't want to have a dark alley and a bad idea about a girl. He shakes his head of this wanton thought. He's been having them more frequently since Suki dumped him a few months ago, a clear sign that he was, indeed, ready to get hurt again.

Except for the fact that he's really looking to get hurt by Toph Beifong. He's been thinking about how her tough, no nonsense demeanor must translate in the bedroom. I bet she likes it rough. He takes another swig of ale. I bet she'll even make **me** be on the bottom, he concludes. Yes, he wants whatever pain she'll give him.

Katara watches her brother lick his lips and chuckle to himself. She's seen that look and she knows that it never leads to good decisions. "Sokka?" she questions, interrupting whatever perverse thoughts have taken occupancy in his brain. "Can you help me grab the next round?"

The table cheers for Katara, pleased that she is supplying them all with better excuses to sleep in the next morning. Sokka stands up quickly-too quickly- to lend his sister a helping hand. The head rush that follows the abrupt disruption of his equilibrium sends him wobbling like a newborn hippo-cow, and he grasps onto the nearest stable object- Toph's shoulder. Toph is slow on the pick up, mind cloudy already from a few drinks, and drops her drink in surprise. Her now empty hand clutches at his forearm, with a tight but steadying grip. In an attempt at regaining her cool, she murmurs, "Careful there, Snoozles." She squeezes his arm several times, and she can feel his pulse quicken. The pair is locked in a tense moment, but Aang and Zuko continue their laughter at Sokka's expense. Katara sighs for the umpteenth time that evening, and Sokka snaps back to reality. He regains his balance, and leans down to Toph's ear.

"Sorry 'bout that, I'll get you another," he whispers. He flashes her a smile, but it's mainly for his benefit.

Toph blushes regardless, all plans of messing with Sokka forgotten. "S'okay."

The siblings approach the bar and Katara flags down the bartender. "Hi! Excuse me! Another round?" She motions to the larger table of her friends, and the bartender nods. As he pours the drinks, Katara looks at her brother pointedly.

"No funny business, Sokka."

He turns his head away from the possible fight breaking out in the back of the tavern to look at her. "Hmm?"

"You heard me. No funny business tonight," she repeats, arms wrapping around her chest.

He rolls his eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh yes, yes you do. Toph may be blind, but I'm sure as hell not. I saw the way you were looking at her," she states.

"And how exactly is that, Katara?"

"How you've been looking at her since she turned 17. Like you've been travelling across the Si Wong desert for months and Toph is an oasis. Knock it off. We get that you've had Suki around for the better part of this decade, and that this breakup has been hard for you. But enough is enough. Don't ruin anymore of our friendships."

Sokka turns on his heels and faces his sister head on. "Who's this 'we'? This is the first I'm hearing of it."

"Aang, Zuko, and I have noticed," she responds cooly, not giving an inch. "We talk about it almost every time you and Toph break off to go hustle taverners at Pai Sho."

"Well, how come they're not confronting me about this?" Sokka feels his voice getting higher, and it risks cracking despite his age.

"Aang is too much of a pacifist to tell his soon to be brother-in-law what to do, and Zuko is Zuko. He'd sooner light himself on fire than confront you about wanting to sleep with one of our closest friends."

Thankfully, the bartender places the newly filled pint glasses on the counter, and Sokka relishes in this disruption. He quickly grabs 2 of the glasses in his right hand and a third in his left. He stalks back over to his friends, glancing back to make sure Katara is busy paying the tab to press him any further.

He unceremoniously places a glass in front of an ever-brooding Zuko, and places another in front of his own empty chair. The single beer in his left hand he reserves for Toph, making sure that no liquid spills. He comes up from behind her chair and places the glass in front of her with his left hand, while massaging her shoulder with his right.

"Here ya go, Chief," he says, lingering as she eases into the gentle probing of his fingers.

"That's a little presumptuous of you, Snoozles. The council hasn't announced the chief of police yet," she replies thickly, trying her best to focus on the words coming out of her mouth rather than the warm hand on her back. She finds this difficult however, as the warming effect extends well below her shoulder and pools near her center. You're in public Beifong, get a grip! Her head spins, and she's is almost positive that this is not all from the alcohol.

He clicks his tongue, dismissing her humbleness. "Nonsense," he retorts as his newly free left hand begins to work on her other shoulder. "They're stupid if they don't choose you. I mean who else is in the running with your distinction? Greatest earth bender alive? Check. Creator of metal bending? Oh yeah, big check. Is a total badass even off duty? I think we have a winner, councilmen and women."

Toph's face turns a bright pink and now, she decides, it is certainly not all from the alcohol. "Flatterer," she breathes out, wiggling her shoulders free of the massage. She crosses her legs and squeezes them together to relieve some of the pressure building. What th is going on with you, Beifong?!

Katara returns to the table and hands Aang a glass with a peck on the cheek. "Did the children behave while I was gone, sweetie?" She shoots an unmissable scowl at her brother. Sokka shrugs, and takes his seat. He scooches his chair a few inches closer to Toph; he smells her and briefly wonders when she started wearing perfume. He shoots a quick glance her way just because- her hair is slowly unravelling from her braid that she chose today, and her cheeks are flushed at the high points. He catches a groan in his throat- what he wouldn't give wake up next to her. Her scent hangs in the air around him and he feels himself leaning in towards her.

"Oh, y'know," Aang slurs, the alcohol clearly getting the better of him. "The same old thing. Zuko asked Toph what time it was, and I was too busy looking at your sweet buns to hear Toph's witty reply about time not mattering when day and night look the same. Also, your brother definitely tried to sex up Toph while you were paying. He was massaging her back, singing her praises, you know, the usual deal. And baby, I think she might actually be into it. Even now, she's letting him sit so close to her when usually she'd do the whole 'BACK OFF I'M TOPH DON'T FUCK WITH ME' deal and-"

The group falls silent, and Aang repeats his words in his head. His eyes go wide as the realization dawns on him. "Oh, FUCK. Katara, I am sososososo sorry! It's just that he totally was, and she TOOOOTALLY was, but I didn't mean to say it here, now, in front of everyone," Aang rambles out. He lets a beat pass.

"What the HECK is in this ale, amiright guys?!" Aang looks mortified and silently pleads with Katara to let him off easily.

She obliges. "Well, you're at the level of drunk where you'll tell me any thought that passes through your little head," she says as she runs her hand over his cheek. "And you can't choose whether or not you want to curse. You're toasted. Let's get you to bed, sweetie." The couple gathers their coats and says their goodbyes to their friends for the evening.

Zuko chugs the remainder of his ale in 30 seconds and excuses himself to the inn he's staying at while visiting Republic City. "I'd come up with an excuse to get me out of this but I'm exhausted and quite frankly, uncomfortable. 'Night guys," he says while exiting the tavern.

Their friends leave them alone at the table.

Sokka clears his throat. "So…"

Toph cuts him off. "Wanna get out of here?"

He balks. Is this a test? A joke? No, Toph doesn't joke. Not like this. "Uh," is his brilliant response.

She takes it for a "yes" and begins to shrug on her coat. He follows suit and gently guides her out of the tavern with a tentative hand pressed to her lower back. The pair continues down the street in silence. When they reach the street in which they usually part ways, Toph stops. Sokka mirrors her and halts in his tracks as well. A tense moment passes.

"Do you wanna come over?" each one blurts out. Sokka lets out a whooping laugh, and Toph snorts in agreement. "Ok, we're pathetic," she says.

"Yeah," he agrees, "but it's kinda our charm."

"Sure, Snoozles. If you tell yourself that."

Another long pause settles over them. "No, seriously," Toph says in the smallest voice he's ever heard from her, "do you want to come to my place?"

He's caught off guard, but nevertheless his answer is a throaty "yeah."

She pulls him down the street and yanks her keys out of her jacket pocket. She fumbles with them, and he reaches over her to help her unlock the door. With a satisfying snap, it creaks open and he hesitates. This is my best friend-is this about to get weird?

She huffs, and as if hearing his thoughts says, "If it gets uncomfortable, we can stop, and chalk it up to some crazy ale they have on tap at the Dragon Scale Tavern. Now, get in here." He steps past the threshold, into her apartment, and crushes his lips onto hers. "The door, you idiot," she demands, but it's barely a whisper. He obliges, lightly kicking the front door closed with his booted foot. Toph snakes her hands up and around his neck, and presses her body closer to his. Never breaking contact, he moves her small frame across her equally small apartment, and barrels into her bedroom. He deposits her on the bed, and can't help himself but stare- for her tough exterior, hard punches, and caustic outbursts, Toph's features were all graceful and delicate. She grows impatient from the lack of physical contact and groans.

"Looking at something interesting?"

He smiles. "I'm always interested when I'm looking at you. Now, take your jacket off."

She stands up, places herself in front of him, face nearly pressed against his. She shoves a thin finger in the minimal space between them. "Listen up, Captain Boomerang, let's get this totally clear. If anyone is ordering off clothing, it's me. If anyone is coming first, it's me. If you have issue with either of those rules, then we're going to have a serious problem here. You got it?"

He licks his lips. "You got it, Chief."

She softens marginally, and drops her mouth next to his ear. "Also, until we're finished here, only call me Chief." He nods.

"Of course...Chief."


End file.
